Sylvanianholics - The Sylvanian Blog

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Its been a real long time since I've written a post but here's is a short one after almost a two-year hiatus!

Recently, I've stumbled upon these vintage Sylvanian Families commercials. I'm sure many of you have seen the newer JP commercials were loads of special effects are used. However, these were produced with the real figures, something I really enjoyed watching a kid! (READ: Stop-Motion)

So without further ado, here are the commercials! (Or as they call 'em in Japan, CMs)

1987 - Forest Bakery & Other Assorted JP sets. I have to admit, this is a personal favourite of mine, simply for the reason, I love vintage JP items!

1989 - Sylvanian Royal Sets. These sets were dubbed Royal sets due to the fact they made sounds. Any collector would probably scoff at the prices advertised on this commercial. 1500-1880 yen for a Musical Evergreen, Timbertop or Wildwood? Pfft, haha.

1991 - Large Forest House. This was probably one of the more expensive Sylvanian houses released in the early 90's! The extension seen at the end of the video was due to be sold in the UK by the Collector's Club but was later shelved due to its price!

1998 - Forest Market aka the Sylvanian Market. This is literally my childhood summed up in 30 seconds. I remember this airing on television, every Saturday morning as a kid! This was pretty much my favourite era of Sylvanians (Feeling a wee old now haha.)

And last but definitely not least, 1988 - McDonalds Happy Meal Sylvanian Commercial! This is is simply the holy grail of Sylvanian sets as far as it goes! The sets were done in conjunction with McDonalds Japan. The appearance or even assistance of these sets have been debated over by veteran collectors for YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS...until now! Enjoy this exclusive piece of Sylvanian History!

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Okay, so I'll be honest with this one, I didn't had to travel much for this edition of Sylvanian Travels! Today, I'll be telling you more about Singapore's very own Sylvanian Shop!

Located at Changi City Mall, Play2Learn is Singapore's very first Sylvanian Shop! And while they carry other lines of toys as well, Sylvanian Families make up a big portion of their store space! Having been the different Sylvanian shops all around the world, I must say I'm really impressed with the store! (And I'm not just saying that, because it's local!)

While visiting the store, do take time a look at the various displays of buildings and sets! When this store opened in May this year, the store brought in staff from the Epoch Group in Japan, just to help set up all these displays. And needless to say, they are just as good as the ones I saw in Japan and England!

Now, on to the main thing, the product range! Product-wise, there is definitely a large variety of items up for sale. In addition to the usual Japanese and British range, the shop also brought in the EU range as well as the Easy-Buy sets which are usually only available in newer developing markets in Eastern Europe, South-East Asia and Africa. On our third visit, we even spotted a few loose pieces of Calico Critters!

I'm also equally impressed by the number of exclusive items from Japan they have in the store, such the Misty Forest Pumpkin Carriage, Baby Pairs set and the tons of Japanese Sylvanian memorabilia. Granted this is may be the Sylvanian Shop in Grinpa or the Sylvanian Market in Tokyo but definitely, this store has one of the best variety of these product outside Japan. My take on this is, if you do have a limited budget for Sylvanian Shopping, go for these !

All in all, its a great place to visit for Sylvanians if you're visiting Singapore, great variety, great displays and lots of friendly staff on habd to help! My only big qualm would be the location of the store, a good half-an-hour from downtown Singapore. But for someone who has travelled hours out of the way just for Sylvanians, I can't really complain :)

GETTING THERE

Play2Learn is located at Changi City Point on the Eastern tip of Singapore,

If you're coming from Changi Airport, it is just a five minute train ride on the trains to the next station, Expo. Changi City Point is just right across the road.

If you're coming from Downtown, take the East-West Line on the MRT to Tanah Merah (EW4) and switch trains to Expo (CG1).

Monday, May 14, 2012

Saturday, April 21, 2012

The Sylvanian Shop London ! - As you can see, they're giving a coat of fresh paint on the signboard!

Hi everyone! Its been a good month since I last blogged and hope everyone has been doing well! Recently, I had the chance to travel to Europe on a backpacking trip :) And of course, what trip to Europe would be complete without a visit to the Sylvanian Families Shop in London!

For me, it was truly a pipe dream that has almost spanned the last decade. It all started almost ten years ago when my Dad made plans to travel to England on a business trip, and being the kid I was, I really longed that he could have taken me along with him ! But of course, with school and everything, I knew deep down it was really more wishful thinking on my part!

Sylvanian Shop London - circa October 2002

My dad did however, paid a visit to the Sylvanian Shop and returned with a lot of new Sylvanians for me, accompanying them were these wonderful photographs of those gleaming Sylvanian displays and shelves of a large array of Sylvanian products. As I looked at photographs, never would I have imagined that I would be doing a pilgrimage of my own to the store itself!

Fast forward to 2012, and here I am, making my very own trip to England! Going to England was not just about visiting a faraway land nor was it just to visit the Sylvanian Shop. One of the key highlights of my visit was to meet up my two long time Sylvanian Collecting friends, Jacc & Hayley. Both Jacc and Hayley have been collectors for slightly over 20 years and have amassed large collections of figures, buildings and memorabilia! I'm very lucky to have met them and to have had the wonderful friendship of both of them for almost ten years!

The long awaited meet up after almost ten years!

What lies behind this door?

The Store's special treasures - GIANT SYLVANIANS!

Sylvanians, Sylvanians and more Sylvanians! As you can see, the hot air balloons are still there after ten years!

A close-up of the display in the centre of the store!

At the store, we were given the very best of hospitality Sylvania had to offer, courtesy of Sylvania's very own, Rocky Babblebrook! Rocky had been expecting us and so he was really glad to have seen us finally here at the store! On behalf of all us, a big big thank you for the wonderful VIP treatment, Rocky! We had a wonderful afternoon of chit-chatting, discussing the Sylvanians as a whole and of course, SHOPPING! We also had a chance to find out who Sylvania will be welcoming in the near future and we can only say its exciting times for Sylvania ahead! :))

Sylvania's very own, Rocky Babblebrook! Always happy to help!

Visiting the shop gave me a wonderful opportunity to talk to parents of collectors which kind of has a little weird effect on me. For me, it was like understanding how my dad felt all those years back when he bought me my first Sylvanian! As one mother put it to me, Jacc & Hayley, it was like "meeting the people" !

All in all, I spent almost 100 pounds in the store and I, finally got the opportunity to join the Sylvanian Families Collectors Club! You'd think after collecting for 14 years, I'd be a long time member by now! But alas, after a 14 year wait, I'm proud to say, "I'M OFFICIAL!"

Overall, I was really happy to have visited the store and meet up with Jacc & Hayley! For me, it was the cherry of the cake that has really defined my collection in the last eighteen months! Visiting Japan and the theme park, collecting the doll of the Year and finally meet my two best collecting friends and the store! I'm really thankful for all this and hope to do it sometime again soon!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

A few months back, I wrote about making a Sylvanian-diorama with some of spare figures and re-ment accessories. Well, a few months on, it looks like I have really caught the diorama bug! To date, I have done five dioramas with a sixth one planned.

I got all of my display cases from Daiso, a Japanese Dollar Shop. At SGD$2 a piece, the cases are a steal! And with a little creativity, they're a cheap and lovely way to keep your Sylvanians in mint condition!

These are some of my Pre-Millennium JP Babblebrooks in their Baby Room! I used some spare felt as well as some unused old furniture from my collection!

And my Redwood Red Panadas! Nothing fancy, just some old leftover faux grass from my old school project!

A few weeks back, I found is lovely model of a diecast Vespa on sale at the department store I was working at. Knowing me, being a sucker for anything miniature, I decided to get it! And after a few days of painting, crafting out, this is the complete result!

Mrs Meadows isn't pleased that her husband, spends all his time now on his new Vespa!

And now, its competition time! I have a Spare Display Case to give away! All you have to do is to email me telling me when kind of Sylvanian Diorama you would like to make! This competition is open to all readers of Sylvanianholics, both local and international! So Hurry! Contest ends 21th April 2012, 11.59pm SGT!